The business of events in Reading
17th September 2026
Business tourism is worth over £50 million a year to Reading and nationally contributes over £33.6 billion to the UK economy. Reading is in a strong position to increase its share of this sector thanks to the quality of its venues, unrivalled transport connections, competitive day delegate rates and joint working on a range of projects.
Meet Reading, REDA’s business tourism arm, works with the leading MICE (Meeting, Incentive trips, Conference and Exhibitions) venues in Reading, to position Reading as a go-to destination for event organisers in London, the Thames Valley and locally.
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Meet Reading has just hosted the second Reading Venue Showcase, an exhibition of 20 venues and event specialist companies. Taking place at Novotel Reading last week, the event was attended by 80+ local business contacts. A group of London-based PAs also attended the event before touring a mix of Reading venues over the subsequent 24 hours to see what Reading could offer as an out-of-London meeting destination.
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Working in partnership with leading sector content creator, Conference News, Meet Reading has created a short video profiling Reading’s leading venues and associated social programme offer. There is also a dedicated website and Meet Reading guide to Reading’s venues. REDA has also exhibited at the national MICE sector exhibition at Excel for the last three years in partnership with leading Reading venues.
With over 20 primary MICE venues, six of which have a capacity of over 400 delegates, Reading is well-placed to compete in the medium-sized business event market. We have non-residential events capacities ranging from 12 to 600 and residential events ranging from 12 to 350, clustered in the town centre and South Reading. Nearly 40 hotels can offer in the region of 2500 bedrooms for events. Rates significantly undercut London and Heathrow.
Alex Brannen, REDA, said: “Reading is well-placed to attract more business events to the town. Working together with all the key venues in Reading, we can bid to host small to medium sized events, showcasing the range and quality of our venues, exciting corporate events and social programmes available, green spaces and unrivalled connectivity. And while we are targeting growing business from London and the South East, the Reading local business meeting market remains the key market for our venues, so please do consider Reading when you are next planning your company away day, sales conference or Christmas party.”
Businesses interested in keeping up to date with Reading’s business tourism offer, should follow Meet Reading on LinkedIn or subscribe to the Meet Reading newsletter.
Ideas for Christmas party venues here>
